“To Daffodils” Summary

“To Daffodils” Themes

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  Unfulfilled Potential and the Brevity of Life

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “To Daffodils”

• Lines 1-4

  Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
  You haste away so soon;
  As yet the early-rising sun
  Has not attain'd his noon.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-10

  Stay, stay,
  Until the hasting day
  Has run
  But to the even-song;
  And, having pray'd together, we
  Will go with you along.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-14

  We have short time to stay, as you,
  We have as short a spring;
  As quick a growth to meet decay,
  As you, or anything.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-20

  We die
  As your hours do, and dry
  Away,
  Like to the summer's rain;
  Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
  Ne'er to be found again.

  

  

  

  

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“To Daffodils” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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“To Daffodils” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Fair
• Haste away
• Attain'd
• The hasting day
• But to
• Even-song
• Pray'd
• Quick
• Like to
• Ne'er

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “To Daffodils”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“To Daffodils” Speaker

“To Daffodils” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “To Daffodils”

More “To Daffodils” Resources

• External Resources

  • Learn More About Robert Herrick — A Poetry Foundation biography of the poet.

  • Listen to a Reading of the Poem — An audio performance of "To Daffodils."

  • What Do People Do at Even-Song? — A professor from Notre Dame University offers an explanation of vespers (a.k.a. "even-song").

  • Poems for Making the Most of Time: An Introduction to Carpe Diem Poetry — A Poets.org article on work that falls into the general category of "carpe diem" poetry. 

  • An Introduction to the Cavalier Poets — A definition and examples of Cavalier poetry, the literary movement with which Herrick is associated. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Herrick

  • Delight in Disorder

  • To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time